


make the clock reverse

by goldenmorningglory



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Fluff, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, M/M, Post manga ending, Time Travel, hinata Natsu mentioned, izumi and kouji mentioned, kagehina are oblivious dorks in love but they're getting there, kagehina watch their middle school match, kageyama and hinata are dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:15:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26283277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenmorningglory/pseuds/goldenmorningglory
Summary: Hinata and Kageyama discover time travel and revisit an old memory. They manage to start the making of new ones too.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 4
Kudos: 76





	make the clock reverse

**Author's Note:**

> Started this at 2 AM in the morning cause of a certain Sen, and now three days later this is the product. I love these two, they deserve to play all the volleyball in the world.
> 
> Title from Healing Incantation by Mandy Moore from Tangled cause im trash like that.

Hinata leaned against his locker, absently towelling off sweat as he scrolled through his phone.

"Ah I need to video call Natsu...oh!" He smiled widely as he watched the video his mother sent of his little sister hitting a wicked under arm at her middle school tennis match. Seemed like Natsu was as athletic as him, only she fought with a racket rather than a ball. He was sending in a flurry of heart emojis as he heard the door open. He looked up. It was Kageyama.

"Oi Hinata. You're gonna fall asleep in the locker room or what? Don't you wanna practice dumbass?" Kageyama frowned at him, leaning against the door, familiar milk carton in hand. Well he didn't really know if he was frowning or thinking about how much more milk he could buy cause that damn setter was always frowning at him.

Except on the court. Every toss of his to Hinata landed on the floor on the other side of the court and he would smile, blue eyes sparkling.

Hinata huffed and threw his towel into his bag, zipping it up and slinging it over his shoulder. He looked up to his eternal rival and grinned.

"Oh stop whining Whinyama. I was watching Natsu's match video. She's gotten so strong!"

They walked out of the locker room and walked to one of the smaller courts. It's what they used for their practice on time off, when they wanted to better their combo attacks or just practice serve-receive off each other. The nostalgia that the small court brought of their gym in Karasuno High was the unsaid reason why they practiced here instead of in the large ones.

"Really? When's her tournament selection? Must be soon right?” Kageyama asked, sipping from the milk carton. “And don’t make up shitty nicknames." he added, almost an afterthought.

Hinata grinned wider, if possible, completely ignoring his reprimand. "Yeah!! I'm sure she's gonna sail through. She's worked very hard!"

"Unlike a shrimp I know.."

"HEY I HEARD THAT YOU JERK."

"Maybe if you spent more time practicing your new serve rather than watching “Best spikes in volleyball history” as if you’ll end up in one of those. You do wanna test that in the next match right?"

"Hey I’m just taking pointers Stingyama!! And of course I wanna test it!" Hinata stomped off ahead, his fake expression of anger softening into a smile as he heard a quiet huff of laughter from behind.

They entered the practice court bickering as always and headed to the storage to get out the net and equipment. As Hinata rummaged about for the net antenna his hand caught on something bulky and out of place.

"Hey Kageyama! Come here!"

Kageyama came back having taken out the net. He was frowning again. “ _Ah, he needs to smile more, he'd have more fans_ ,'' Hinata thought absently.

"What is it you slowpoke.You're holding us up."

"Oh come on. Anyway is this watch yours?" Hinata held up the bulky and battered watch to Kageyama's face, who leaned away and quickly aimed a hit at Hinata's head with a "It's not mine. Leave that and come practice now!"

Hinata ducked away through habit, focussing on the watch. It was really worn, but felt magnetic.

Kageyama noticed him zoning out. "Hey what is it? Is it yours or what." Curiosity coloured his voice.

Hinata shook his head. It was 7 PM right now. The watch showed 4 AM.

"Eh this watch is running 9 hours fast? Damn."

Hinata could feel Kageyama leaning over his shoulder to see what he was up to, irritation mixed with curiosity running off him in waves. He held the dial on the side of the watch and turned it back 9 hours.

There was a sudden bright light and the storage room was empty, net antenna falling from where it seemed suspended in thin air.

"YOU DUMB TANGARINE WHAT DID YOU DO??!!"

"I didn't do anything!!! Where are we anyway??"

Hinata rubbed his ears in an exaggerated reaction to Kageyama's shouting as he took in his surroundings. It looked like.....the storage room they were just in. Just slightly different. They looked out of the door to see the reason for the noise and...a volleyball court. No. It was a gym? Not dissimilar to the one they just left but definitely smaller and filled with middle school students.

"This smell...air salonpas. Feels familiar."

The storage room gave a view of the whole court. It seemed like there was a tournament going to happen.

"Where are we?" Kegeyama asked, looking around. "You're right, it looks familiar. Almost like-" He cut off as they heard some of the kids walking past talk. They instinctively hid in the shadows, something telling them being sighted was a not a good thing to happen.

"Oh it's Kitaichi playing today. They're super strong."

"I heard they're favourites to go to the nationals."

"They have _him_ right? The King of the Court."

"Who's up against them?"

"Yukigaoka Junior High? Huh never heard of them."

"Aah poor souls..."

Hinata and Kageyama turned to each other, wide eyed. It can't be...

"That’s Kitagawa Daiichi?? Wow they're big! Don't tell me those elementary school looking kids are up against them??"

Hinata peeked out of the door and sure enough, it's Kageyama and his team walking in through the entrance of what they now knew was Miyagi’s town gymnasium, past Hinata and his ragtag middle school volleyball team. Kageyama, who was peeking from over him, let out a gasp.

"It's the middle school qualifiers. We're nine years back in time."

"Wah I can still see that image in my head. When you walked past me." Hinata chuckled at the memory, though the intense feeling of seeing Kageyama walk past him for the first time was still fresh. The flash of a crown and cape looking detached and lonely.

Kageyama lightly whacked him upside the head. Hinata turned, wanting to take revenge, when he saw Kageyama grin, eyes sparkling in the reflection of the floodlights. _He really should smile more, he looks good_ . Hinata shakes his head to chase away the annoyingly recurrent thought.

"Why are you smiling like that? What-"

Kageyama's grin became wider.

"Wanna watch?"

For a moment, Hinata stared at the image of his usually blank faced setter smiling, then laughed in response.

"Sure!!"

They found a spot off to the side of the court they would play on. They both wore masks, Hinata using the hood of the jacket he had fortunately not removed to cover his hair. They chose not to sit in the stands cause they knew Daichi, Sugawara and Tanaka were there.

Hinata could feel his stomach clench as if in remembrance of his nervousness. He kept his pre match bathroom trip as a tradition, though he never felt that anxiety anymore, no matter how much the rest of the national team made fun of him for it.

It was where he met the best of the best somehow.

"What, you wanna go to the bathroom?" Kageyama smirked at him knowingly to which he responded in a very mature, 24 year old way by sticking his tongue out. Kageyama laughed but then turned serious instantly. Hinata, a bit dazed from the laugh, turned to see why he stopped.

Oh.

They were on the court.

"You were really tiny huh."

Hinata is so entranced by seeing their younger selves that he doesn’t even respond to the jibe. Himself- small, jittery with excitement and fire in his eyes and Kageyama- tall, imposing, carrying that aura of a king that he would later shed and remake. He sneaked a look at adult Kageyama, confused when he found the setter’s eyes glued to the younger Hinata.

He took to watching Kageyama rather than the match, curious at how he saw it now. Hinata himself knew exactly what he felt and thought, this 2 set game was a frequently visited memory. The one which cemented his desire to stay on court.

Kageyama was silent, whether he was oblivious to Hinata’s staring or he was ignoring him was unclear. His face was devoid of expression, one he sometimes wore while analysing post game videos, like he was trying to find ways to improve, to find the mistakes he made then.That he was analysing this one middle school match against an unknown school with the same intensity as league or Olympic one made Hinata wonder whether he wasn't the only one who was so affected by it.

At that moment somehow, Hinata turned at a particular squeak of shoes against the gym floor, the sound before Izumi's toss miss. He watched himself fly across the length of the net, almost suspended in air before he hit the ball and landed in a number of painful looking cartwheels, coming to rest after hitting the blue dividers. Then immediately sitting up without a care for pain, only to see that it was out and the match went to Kitaichi.

He thought he heard Kageyama gasp beside him. When he turned it, the expression that greeted him was one Kageyama displayed after a particularly well executed toss. The spike, as Hinata was acutely aware, was sloppy and landed outside sealing the match but Kageyama looked like he had seen something really amazing. His eyes were wide and sparkling, lips slightly open in what couldn’t possibly be, but was unmistakably, awe. 

Hinata’s brows scrunched in curiosity, but for now he turned to the court where 15 year old Kageyama, clutching the net and glaring at his own younger self, was saying words that burned him even now. 

“ _What have you been doing these past three years?!_ ”

Hinata flinched even now, though it was hardly noticeable. Remembering the anger trumped by frustration at those words, when only he knew how he carried the weight of his burning passion for the game alone, the memories of running after Izumi and Kouji no matter how much it annoyed them, bearing the taunts of his classmates who wondered why someone as short as him was even doing with a volleyball. Shaking his head, he turned once more to Kageyama only to find him frowning slightly.

“What Yamayama, you still wanna decimate me that bad-” Hinata started, voice a bit too cherry, but Kageyama cut him off.

“Do you know why I asked you that question?”

Hinata made a confused sound and leaned forward in an attempt to look at his face properly, but Kageyama kept staring at the court. He then started walking out, to where Hinata remembered them proclaiming their rivalry, on the flight of steps, loud and heated in the way only children who didn’t know embarrassment could.

“Hey Kageyama what did you mean? Don’t leave me hanging you jerk.”

Kageyama continued staring ahead. “When I asked you what you were doing for the past three years. Do you know why I asked you that?”

Hinata huffed and crossed his arms. They had almost reached the entrance.

“Well you were obviously wondering why I would come onto the court if I had not even prepared for the match. Not like you would know how much I practiced or anything.” He added the last part as a grumble. 

A huff of amused laughter made him look at Kageyama in surprise. He was smiling, genuinely amused.

“That’s not why.”

“Then why?”

They had reached the steps. They stood off to the side, so as to not be spotted by Kageyama’s team who would be walking through shortly.

“Yah Bakayama tell me!!”

“I wondered, you know. After the match. Why you hadn’t been on the court before. Why someone with your reflexes and physicality had not got a dependable team to play with. Why was I facing you only now, someone who’s thirst to win and stay on court rivalled my own” Kageyama turned his head to face him, blue eyes impossibly deep in the setting sun as they regarded him. “Why you didn’t have a setter who could send you the tosses you deserved.”

Hinata forgot how to breathe. He could feel heat rushing to his face and hoped the shadows caused by the sunset hid the blush. He would rather skip practice than admit how much he longed to hear words like those from the one person he considered the best even now. He had in the last few years seen, faced and played with some of the best in the country and even the world, but none of them managed to fire him up and inspire him like Kageyama Tobio. For him to say this…

“You’re really something Bakayama, how can that one question mean all that? But-”

“But?” Kageyama prompted, nervousness betrayed by his eyes.

Hinata smiled at him wide and happy.

“You’re here now aren’t you? The setter who can give me the tosses I deserve?”

Kageyama went stock still with a slight gasp, eyes wide and staring at Hinata. Before he could respond, they heard the Kitagawa Daiichi team approach, and slipped a bit more into the shadows to watch. Hinata wondered if his words were too brazen and obvious about his feelings but then again, _This is Kageyama. He's more oblivious than me_. Hinata smiled fondly at the thought.

They witness the scene that had cemented their link, but now from the outside.

_“If you’re the reigning king of the court,” 15 year old Hinata sniffed, tears rolling down his face, “then I’ll dethrone you from your title, and I’ll be the one who stands on the court the longest!!”_

Present day Hinata laughed hearing the words and when Kageyama gave him a look of curiosity, he smiled at him, warm and happy. He doesn’t notice the pink that coloured Kageyama’s cheeks and the smile twitching on his lips. He thought how those words, said so seriously long ago, were the reason they were standing shoulder to shoulder, together against the world today.

_Kageyama turned, his face serious. “The only one who remain on the court are the winners and the strong. If you want to win and advance...try and grow stronger!!”_

_The two shared a heated glare of promised rivalry, the genius setter and the loose canon rookie. Then Kageyama turned away and left, while Hinata turned back to Izumi and Kouji to thank them for helping him play his first and last volleyball match of middle school. Had they not joined in, however reluctant, he wouldn’t have gotten to stand in that gym. To breathe in the smell of the muscle spray, to see the brightness of the floodlights and hear the sounds of volleyballs hitting the floor._

_Wouldn’t have met Kageyama._

“So?” Hinata asked, turned towards Kageyama with a grin after their younger selves left and they’re the only ones standing there. “Do you think I got strong enough to stay on court?” 

Kageyama stayed silent for a bit, gaze far away into the sun setting on Miyagi Prefecture. Hinata watched the wind ruffle his black hair, the fading orange of the sun rays turning his blue eyes into a deeper cobalt. Hinata was the first to admit that he was not academically inclined, nor did he have any appreciation for literature, but sometimes when watching his setter, whether he was practicing serves or quietly filing his nails or ravenously indulging in the occasional ramen, he felt even he, volleyball idiot numero uno, could write poetry.

He felt it would not be amiss to say that he was an indelible part of this poem, after all, they wrote this one together as they did everything else.

Kageyama sighed and faced him, a smile on his face unlike Hinata had seen before. Small, soft and absolutely _fond_. Hinata wondered if he had smiled like that before and if so, how was Hinata more of an idiot than he already was to miss those smiles.

He wondered if those smiles had been directed at him.

“Hmm...considering you did follow me all the the way to the Olympic team-”

“Hey who was following you?!”

“I guess we both got strong enough to stand on the court huh.”

Hinata shook his head and he smiled wide and soft.

“You always had been strong enough. But we ended up doing it together too. Who would have thought.”

Kageyama reached out, hand settling in Hinata’s hair and ruffling it. Hinata closed his eyes and sighed. He tried not to show how much Kageyama’s touch pleased him, but well, he was tired of pretending he was not in love with the guy.

“No. You made me that strong, Shouyou..” Kageyama whispered his given name almost reverently, and Hinata forgot how to breathe. _Again_. How couldn’t he, when the Japan national team’s youngest player, a guy having thousands of admirers across the globe, was looking at him, Hinata, like he had hung the sun, the stars and the moon. Or gifted him that one pair of Nike shoes with volleyballs on them that he knew Kageyama had been eyeing for quite some time now, as if he had to save up pocket money and ask permission to buy it and didn’t have a bank account bursting with money.

“What?” Hinata whispered, caught in a daze.

Kageyama leaned in, then further till his lips were brushing Hinata’s ears, breath tickling his earlobe.

Hinata’s lungs were probably gonna go on a strike.

“How do we get back?”

Kageyama leaned back, taking his hand away from Hinata’s hair (a loss Hinata felt acutely), face so smug Hinata wanted to spike a ball right into his face. Though that smirk could hide the redness in his face or the shallowness of his breath. Hinata was either head over heels in love for his dumb setter or head over heels in annoyance, there was no in between.

But as he proceeded to attempt to smack Kageyama (who also dodged out of habit, they loved beating each other up. Is that what they call tough love?) he knew he wouldn't have it any other way.

After, when they turned the dial on the watch forward by 9 hours and when the bright light faded, they almost fainted from relief seeing the familiar practice court storage room, net antenna on the floor where Hinata had dropped it. They walk onto the court and set everything up. In minutes they’re set, the routine being as familiar as anything. Hinata threw the ball to Kageyama, who, flawless as always, tossed it and Hinata was there, spiking it hard and true. They turned towards each other, a distance equal to the length of the net between them, and when Hinata saw the spark of heat he felt reflected in Kageyama’s eyes and smile, he knew maybe things were finally changing between them. But as Kageyama continued tossing and Hinata continued spiking, Hinata felt the warmth of happiness flood him at the bone deep surety that whatever changed, this would not.

They were made for this, for the squeak of shoes on gym floors, for the smack of the palm against the ball, for the breathless moments where it felt like there’s no one on the court except them, one standing firm on the ground so the other could fly to his heart’s fill. The genius setter and the loose canon rookie, the devil duo of Volleyball.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos heal my broken soul. Follow me on [ Twitter!! ](https://twitter.com/moonchildbichen?s=09)


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